Abstract
The Greater Caucasus overall and its Ossetian segment are parts of the neotectonically active Alpine-Himalaya mobile belt. This region, complex from the geodynamical standpoint, is traditionally treated as resulting from interaction between two large lithospheric plates, the Eurasian and Arabian ones. In 2010, a geodetic network for periodical repeated measurements by the mobile GPS instruments was deployed in this region. In addition to the survey-mode sites, three permanent GPS base stations were installed. In this paper, we describe the data processing procedure and results of GPS measurements carried out in 2010–2013. The horizontal GPS velocities are estimated in three reference systems: in global ITRF2008 coordinates (International Terrestrial Reference System), with respect to the fixed Eurasia, and in the local reference frame fixed to the ARDN base station. The analysis revealed a general submeridional drift of the region driven by the convergence of the Eurasian and Arabian plates. This pattern of motion is complicated by the specific tectonic features most probably associated with the ongoing local processes forming the tectonic structure of the region.
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Original Russian Text © V.K. Milyukov, A.P. Mironov, G.M. Steblov, V.I. Shevchenko, A.G. Kusraev, V.N. Drobyshev, Kh.M. Khubaev, 2015, published in Fizika Zemli, 2015, No. 4, pp. 68–80.
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Milyukov, V.K., Mironov, A.P., Steblov, G.M. et al. The contemporary GPS-derived horizontal motions of the main elements of tectonic structure in the Ossetian segment of Greater Caucasus. Izv., Phys. Solid Earth 51, 522–534 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351315040072
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1069351315040072